The fact that Laverick had been decorated meant that the first place to start
was by searching
The Gazette. A quick search of their database revealed that Laverick was mentioned three
times: firstly when he was
promoted to 2nd Lt in 1917,
then on December 23rd 1918 he was attached to the 329th Siege Battery, and
finally in 1919 came
the citation for his Military Cross.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11 JANUARY, 1919. page 629
Lt. Percy William Laverick, 329th Siege By., R.G.A.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to
duty. When in command of a half battery
in a forward position which was heavily
bombarded with high-explosive and gas
shell, he kept his guns in action and maintained
communication with headquarters.
After being twenty hours under shell fire,
he withdrew his guns in good order without
casualties, and only slight damage to one
gun. His cool judgement enabled him to
extricate his half battery from a dangerous
situation.
The text of this
citation makes me feel proud and he isn’t even my ancestor.
Emotions aside, with this information it was now possible to narrow down when Laverick’s
gallant deed occurred, which was towards the end of the war, taking into
the delay between the action at the Front and the War Office providing
accurate details to be printed several months later in the Gazette. Regardless, I was determined to find the actual date and, if possible, the location.
Luckily, WW1 Officers’ service records were not subject to being bombed in the
Blitz and Laverick’s service record was available at the National Archives
under the reference WO 339/83760, which I quickly ordered for just under £40
because they have not yet been digitised and so are not available to view
online. I knew it would take a while to arrive but when it did it should
provide more details of his illustrious Military Cross.
Naturally Lieutenant Laverick was also awarded Campaign Medals, but his medal index card revealed that since he arrived in on May 15th 1917 he was
only eligible for the Victory and British War Medal and not the 1914-1915 Star.
Because Laverick was an officer the medal index card also provided his address
at the time: 2 Spencer Mansions, Queens Club Gardens in West
Kensington - which was quite a difference to his entry in the 1911 census. He was a 19-year-old sales engineer living at 97A Rye Lane, Peckham in south-east London
with his 14-year-old brother Cecil Ebenezer Laverick,
who sadly died on
September 13th 1917 while also serving with the Royal Field Artillery.
The National Archives are currently undertaking the huge task of digitising all
the WW1 war diaries. These diaries, which were kept in triplicate, reveal the
minute details of the day-to-day occurrences and often even hour-by-hour
developments.
After ing the
Royal
Artillery Museum,
my hopes were dashed when I learned that there was no war diary kept for the 329th Siege
Battery.
But there was still a chance, since they formed part of the 28th Heavy Artillery
Group, whose diaries were held both at the National Archives and at the
Regimental Museum in Woolwich.
So on August 5th, Ollie and I travelled to Woolwich hoping to find the
answers to the final two questions: exactly when and where did Laverick act so
bravely?
